“The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday sued Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, alleging the overseas company operated an illegal trading platform in the U.S. and misused customers’ funds.
The SEC lawsuit also named Changpeng Zhao, Binance’s founder and controlling shareholder, as a defendant. The SEC said that Binance and Zhao misused customers’ funds and even diverted them to a trading entity that Zhao controlled. That trading firm, Sigma Chain, engaged in fraudulent trading that made Binance’s volume appear larger than it actually was, the SEC said.
Binance also concealed that it commingled billions of dollars in customer assets and sent them to a third-party, Merit Peak, which was owned by Zhao, the SEC alleged. The Wall Street Journal reported last year that the SEC was examining the relationship between Binance.US—the U.S. arm created in 2019—and Sigma Chain and Merit Peak.
The SEC filed the case in federal court in the District of Columbia. Binance engaged in ‘blatant disregard of the federal securities laws and the investor and market protections these laws provide,’ the agency wrote in its court complaint.”
“The first sign of deep trouble in US banking this year came from a sunbaked office complex in a San Diego suburb. There, a small firm called Silvergate Capital Corp. assured investors it was weathering a run on deposits. Its lifeline: about $4.3 billion from a Federal Home Loan Bank.
Heads turned across the financial industry.
Silvergate didn’t have a network of branches serving consumers, and it barely offered mortgages. It specialized in moving dollars for cryptocurrency ventures.
Soon it became apparent that a roster of troubled regional banks was leaning on FHLBs — a relic of the Great Depression originally aimed at ensuring financial firms have cash to lend to homebuyers. Yet the banks had little to do with everyday mortgage lending.
For many, that was a crystallizing moment for the 90-year-old Federal Home Loan Bank system, which has ballooned to more than $1.5 trillion while playing a growing role as a backstop for banks taking all kinds of risks — and a diminishing role in funding new mortgages. That’s raising questions about the purpose of FHLBs and why the private institutions enjoy so much government support.”
“Today, the European Commission and the World Health Organization (WHO) have announced the launch of a landmark digital health partnership.
In June 2023, WHO will take up the European Union (EU) system of digital COVID-19 certification to establish a global system that will help facilitate global mobility and protect citizens across the world from on-going and future health threats. This is the first building block of the WHO Global Digital Health Certification Network (GDHCN) that will develop a wide range of digital products to deliver better health for all.
Based on the EU Global Health Strategy and WHO Member States Global Strategy on Digital Health, the initiative follows the 2 December 2022 agreement signed by Commissioner Kyriakides and WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to enhance strategic cooperation on global health issues. This further bolsters a robust multilateral system with WHO at its core, powered by a strong EU.
One of the key elements in the European Union's work against the COVID-19 pandemic has been the digital COVID certificate. To facilitate free movement within its borders, the EU swiftly established interoperable COVID-19 certificates (entitled ‘EU Digital COVID Certificate' or ‘EU DCC'). Based on open-source technologies and standards it allowed also for the connection of non-EU countries that issue certificates according to EU DCC specifications, becoming the most widely used solution around the world.”
“Hard Landing Monday,” Ripped From The Headlines. Things To Ponder:
“We’ve Got This Covered… Wait, Who’s On First?”
The SEC these days feels like that old episode of Abbott & Costello, doesn’t it?
The US government as a whole seems to be in a stretch where things just don’t seem to happen the way they should…
Good guys go to jail, and bad guys seem to skate off scot-free…
And now, the SEC is after the “Crypto Savior” and Binance.
This comes after the #CFTC went after Binance back in March. The following is a breakdown of the situation, which shows how we laid out the case for what was going to happen:
“Sherloc Wins Again - Film At 11!”
We rarely toot our own horn (we have amazing subscribers who do that for us), but in the case of Binance & the #CFTC, there are important things to cover:
The #CFTC
In our feature article, “When Liars Conspire,” which you can read by Clicking Here, we connected the dots on the collusion between multiple agencies - including the SEC and the CFTC - to control cryptocurrency and to pick winners and losers in the space:
The collusion knows no boundaries…
Then, there’s the role of Congress:
Congress has been working on this from multiple angles to support the plan. From the Wall Street Journal:
Did you catch that?
“In practical terms, for federal agencies such as the CFTC, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Federal Reserve, adding crypto to their remit would bring bigger budgets, greater influence and more job opportunities for officials who leave public service. For members of the congressional committees that oversee such regulators, a new industry in their sandbox would create another stream of lobbyists and campaign donations.”
And this?
“Washington has introduced a flurry of bills in recent months to draw jurisdictional lines. Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R., Wyo.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.) unveiled a proposal in June that would create exemptions for cryptocurrencies in securities laws, banking statutes and tax code. In July, leaders of the House Financial Services Committee said they were working on a bill to grant the Federal Reserve a greater role in regulating some stablecoins, crypto tokens pegged against the dollar and other official currencies.”
Do you see how they are playing you?
Then, there’s Binance…
Back on December 14th, 2022, this is what we wrote in response to the initial run on Binance and their system being stable:
Click Hereto read the full edition of Ripped From The Headlines.
Then, we wrote this in response to an article about Binance bleeding out on January 14, 2023:
You can read that edition of Ripped From The Headlines by Clicking Here.
We also broke down the entire mess surrounding centralized cryptocurrency exchanges with Carl Jackson Bank In November:
(EDITOR’s NOTE: At the 7:50 mark of this interview, co-publisher, RC Williams, walks through the issues with the FDIC, and what would happen in a bank stress event, very similar to what we’re seeing right now)
Busy day, right?
Here’s the question to ask yourself: Was Binance the perfect patsy to stir fear in crypto to give the government an excuse for more control, right when banks are on the brink of failure?
KNOW YOUR FOE!
“Hey… Don’t Worry About Us Abusing Funds… We’re The Banks!”
And the hits just keep on coming…
We’ve covered issues with the banking crisis extensively, but the abuse of the Federal Home Loan Bank by banks is sickening…
And now? Chickens are coming home to roost…
The banks are basically taking money from a fund for whatever they want, in spite of the fact that it’s designated for a particular thing… making sure people can get home loans.
If you’re wondering why this is all happening, our power hour on the Officer Tatum Show with Carl Jackson breaks it all down:
KNOW YOUR FOE!
“The WHO Isn’t Taking Over… Well, Kind Of…”
Isn’t it interesting that just the other day, the WHO had to use one of their surrogates to put this out:
And now, they’ve shared this:
In June 2023, WHO will take up the European Union (EU) system of digital COVID-19 certification to establish a global system that will help facilitate global mobility and protect citizens across the world from on-going and future health threats. This is the first building block of the WHO Global Digital Health Certification Network (GDHCN) that will develop a wide range of digital products to deliver better health for all.
So…
Which one is it, WHO?
We believe the old saying is true: Once a government puts a rule in place, it ain’t going away.
Remain vigilant, and KNOW YOUR FOE.
What Does This Mean?
The powers that be want you:
Ignorant…
Hungry…
…and to have just enough money to keep funneling it to them.
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Ripped From The Headlines is your daily digest of what’s happening in the world. We help you to understand what it means, why you should care, and what you should do.
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